Port Everglades Plans 7th Cruise Terminal

October 19, 1985|By Scott A. Zamost, Staff Writer

Buoyed by another new cruise ship that will start service next fall, Port Everglades hopes to begin construction of its seventh passenger terminal before the end of the year, a port official said Friday.

The terminal would be part of a 100,000-square-foot transit shed, which the port wants to open in time for the cruise season in November 1986, said Alan Kehrer, director of passenger development.

He said the new terminal is needed because 20 cruise ships will be calling at the port next year, including the 1,210-passenger M.S. Noordam, owned by Holland America/Westours.

The 30,000-ton ship will begin seven-day cruises on Oct. 14, 1986, through the following May, when it will return to Seattle, where Holland America/ Westours is based, Kehrer said.

``This is really significant because it gives us another major ship to operate from here,`` he said.

Kehrer said the Noordam will bring about $250,000 annually in gross income to the port.

He said the port would have built the new passenger terminal anyway and said it was coincidental that that Holland America/Westours decided to base the Noordam there.

The port commission approved the transit shed earlier this year, but the size of the 8,000-square-foot cruise ship terminal had not been decided. An additional 16,000 square feet of offices for shippers will be built above the terminal.

The shed will be at Berth 4 in the northeast section of the port. The berth is now being used to store lumber.

The port has six cruise ship terminals. Three of them are part of other buildings, which are used for cargo storage and other purposes.